Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation's roots go back a decade, but in a way, the foundation is still in startup mode.

Since beginning fully independent operation in 2011, following the 2010 sale of Detroit Medical Center to what was then Vanguard Health Systems Inc., the foundation has launched a formal biannual grant-making program and a campaign to support new areas of pediatric health care and research, hiring new fundraisers to help re-establish connections with donors after losing many amid the DMC sale.

The foundation inherited $90 million in charitable assets raised for DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan following the sale of DMC and its conversion to a for-profit health system.

It made $16.3 million in grants between 2011 and 2013 in three pediatric focus areas stemming from the original donor intent behind those assets: research, community benefit, and education on things such as new pediatric procedures.

The grants have gone primarily to researchers and physicians associated with Children's Hospital and Wayne State University.

But the foundation is also looking to carve out a new identity in order to have the greatest impact, said Chairman David Page, partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit.

"We felt if we were simply to steward the assets we were given, it would be good," he said. "But getting contributions from the community for other things benefiting children would be even better."

"We have to figure out where's the best place to put our next $100 million," Page said.

To that end, the foundation is seeking input from physicians, researchers and administration at DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan, which remains its home base, and others in the community, such as foundations making grants in health care and school-based health centers, said foundation President and CEO Tony Werner.

"In my mind, the foundation has to be relevant to community needs, as well as donors' wishes," he said.

Werner joined the foundation in early 2013 after spending a decade as president of three foundations that benefited Toledo, Ohio, hospitals: Mercy Children's Hospital Foundation, Mercy St. Vincent Foundation and St. Marguerite d'Youville Foundation II.

Much of the $90 million in assets the foundation inherited were restricted or designated for specific programs. Securing new, unrestricted support will give the foundation's board the flexibility to make grants in new pediatric areas where the needs are greatest, Werner said.

To rebuild its fundraising team, which was largely depleted amid the DMC sale, the foundation has hired four fundraisers, giving it about a dozen, among 19 total employees.

As of the end of May, the foundation had $108 million in assets, Werner said. It's taking grant solicitations only from pediatric physicians and researchers at Children's Hospital or community organizations that work collaboratively with the hospital.

The foundation considered changing its name, but the Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation name is so well known that the board decided against it, Page said.